Home/Blog/Make Space: Tea as a medium to restore balance with the owner of ZIGZAG, East London

Make Space: Tea as a medium to restore balance with the owner of ZIGZAG, East London

Sep 20, 2017Posted by: Lucy Dolan

‘Make Space’ is the term Lucy Dolan uses to describe the concept behind her tea company ZIGZAG. The Yin to your Yang, the zig to your zag, it’s all about balance and connection.

Tea has been a great expression of spiritual depth, health, healing, culture and community for thousands of years. First discovered by the aboriginal shamans in the southern province of Yunnan, China, the tea plant Camellia Sinensis has since become a global commodity with its natural ability to harness connection, often overlooked. In Yunnan, the birthplace of tea, the tribes believe that tea drinking aligns us with Spirit and Nature and here at ZIGZAG we want to take tea back to its roots.

Why tea?

Tea is essentially leaf, water and time, it is these three elements that together allow you to make space and to get that all important headspace throughout the day. I see tea as the opposite to coffee, a different mindset. With tea’s natural slow release of caffeine it is less of an intense surge of energy and more of a gradual realignment.

Ancient ritual of tea drinking as well-being exercise

Tea rituals or ceremonies have been a well-being exercise in East Asia for millennia seen as a time to appreciate the taste, smell and preparation of tea as an art form in order to enhance a feeling of balance and harmony often called, Cha Dao - “the way of tea.” The ceremony is choreographed by intricate, precise movements, using a specific set of tools and equipment including: a gaiwan (a lidded pot for hot water), smaller cups for smelling and tasting the tea, utensils and tray. This practice was later introduced to the Zen monks of Japan who developed the practice using Matcha to keep them awake during their long lasting meditations.

The zigzag philosophy: Make Space

We get it, we don’t expect you to lay out all of your utensils on the desk at work and get lost in the realm of tea making for an hour, but being more present whilst preparing and brewing the tea from now on could really allow you to get that all important head space throughout the day, you never know you might have that ah-ha moment!

We added ritual icons to the side of our packs to remind you of the basic 3 elements; leaf, water and a tea bowl. The tea bowl represents the infusion time to remind you to watch the tea infuse, see the slow release of the tea leaves infuse with the water, smell the aromas of the tea brewing, this will naturally slow you down. The colour burst on the pack represents the infusion of the tea in the water and the empty white space a reminder of ‘no thought, no distractions’ to be in the present moment.

Try a mini meditation next time you’re at work making a cuppa, make some space, don’t take your phone and just be. This small exercise will naturally allow you to feel a sense of balance and calm, away from distractions and realigned.

“Ordinary tea can become extraordinarily beautiful – a tremendous experience if you enjoy it. Enjoy it with deep reverence. Make it a ceremony: making tea ... listening to the kettle and the sound, then pouring the tea ... smelling the fragrance of it; then tasting the tea and feeling happy.”OSHO